Larry Rosenberg shot three people at a senior citizen apartment facility on Wednesday. The 77-year-old man killed one person and turned the gun on himself after police officers closed in on him a mile away from the shooting, CBS News is reporting.
Rosenberg’s first victim was shot inside the apartment facility and two others were shot outside the apartment complex. Police are yet to confirm the motive behind the shootings, but a neighbor, Margaret Rosso, said the 77-year-old man had withdrawn into a shell recently.
“He started getting more and more distant, complaining about the facility and about people and just kind of pulling away, isolating himself more and more.”
Guns don't kill people. Senior citizens kill people. https://t.co/SOddSF0IrC
— trrish (@trrish) September 15, 2016
The Heritage Court Apartments are comprised of 32 affordable housing units for households with at least one member aged 62 or over. Rosso’s mother, Mary Eastman, said she liked talking with Larry Rosenberg and attended yard sales with him occasionally.
Eastman, 80, said Rosenberg had given her a letter the morning of the shooting. She revealed that she was headed to a shop and did not plan to read it until later. When she returned to the apartment complex, it was already a crime scene. Eastman read the letter and blamed the frustrations of the gun-wielding senior citizen on poker gambling.
“His problem really was that damned poker gambling. That was it. That was all he complained about. He did not like it. In fact, a lot of the people didn’t like it. He was getting fed up with having the poker in there every other day.”
#HeritageCourtApartments in Cheyenne, and two were shot outside, said #DanLong, spokesman for the Cheyenne Police https://t.co/RbTVZGFXNZ
— rasi (@twisira) September 15, 2016
Eastman said Larry Rosenberg was not the only one who complained about the rowdy poker games that were held three times a week in the common room. She said other residents had brought the issue to the forefront during meetings with the apartment complex managers.
“Sunday, Monday and then Wednesday, that’s too much. To haul them people in we don’t know. We don’t want to know them. They’re taking up our space, sleeping on the sofa and sleeping on the recliner.”
Easton said she had given the letter to the Cheyenne Police Department.
A daughter of one of the victims, Gregory Gilbert, said her father was in a critical but stable condition. She said her father was able to communicate with family members and pleaded with the public to pray for him.
The shooting occurred around 11 a.m. Police were called to the scene and traced Larry Rosenberg to a neighborhood a mile away. When police found the 77-year-old, he was in possession of a rifle and handgun. Officers did not fire any shots at the gunman before he turned the handgun on himself.
Multiple shootings are a rarity in Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming with a resident population of just over 60,000 people. In 2015, the Cheyenne Police Department recorded only six homicide cases.
Police shot and killed 80 YO Edward Acquisto,who they say was out on parole when he shot and killed a man last night https://t.co/B5a87Bo4dk
— Steph Machado (@StephMachado) June 14, 2016
This is not the first shooting to involve a senior citizen. According to The Guardian, an 80-year-old man killed an 81-year-old man at a cemetery and then refused to surrender to authorities, who fatally shot him.
Police authorities said Edward Acquisto was known for reading his Bible at the burial ground. He had arranged to meet Cloud, Monday morning. When Cloud arrived, Edward shot him to death.
A police spokesman said it was not a random act, adding that the victim and suspect had some history.
Acquisto, after killing Cloud, had driven his car to Fall River, Massachusetts. Police officers had spotted his car and tailed him back to a residential neighborhood in Tiverton. Upon reaching a dead end, Acquisto opened fire on police officers. They returned fire, killing him.
NEW:Edward Acquisto's mug shot from 70s.Convicted of beating man to death. Got out, killed man last night police say pic.twitter.com/bGj8wN6hOL
— Steph Machado (@StephMachado) June 14, 2016
Acquisto had criminal history, pleading no contest to manslaughter charges in 1982 and was found guilty of sexual assault in 1981. Three police officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave.
[Photo by JaysonPhotography/iStock]
77-Year-Old Man Shoots Three, Kills One Because Of Rowdy Poker Games is an article from: The Inquisitr News